Core Book Chapter 3
With the Merc.NET setting there are numerous possibilities for alien races but the core book only contains a half dozen with more to come in future publications. These races in include Human, Dwuervan, Elharnian, Orlanc, Yetin, Ngorm, Halfarn, and Tantalan. Humans are the dominate species on Earth and have quickly spread through the areas of the galaxy they control. Humans are one of the most prolific races throughout the galaxy for their young age and with their aggressive expansionistic desire and sex drive they continuously pop-out an ever expanding race. Humans are very versatile and flexible; although oft times they can be petty, jealous, greedy, and all the other deadly sins and even a few new ones even God didn’t think of until later on. ] Short of stature but filled with courage and strength the Dwuervan are the ones who started the Tunnel Union and are heavily into mining and the crafts that revolve around it but are also considered great warriors when they need to be. The Dwuervan economy revolves mostly around mining but they also have a large amount of income that comes from tons of diverse amounts of artwork, gemstones, and other works of beauty created by their artisans. Graceful, beautiful, and nigh unflappable the Elharnians are probably what the legends of elves evolved from. The Elharnians while one of the largest races in the galaxy is also one of the oldest memoried ones as well with most of their race reaching into the 2500-3500 year old category of their race. This is a great concern since Elharnian females are only fertile for the first four hundred years of their life. The Elharnians as stated before are thin and graceful, most have a pale skin with lighter colored eyes and hair but there are some Elharnian from the coastal region with darker skin and hair. The Elharnians have a passion for the long blade and have a sharp eye when it comes to long range shooting and manufacture some of the highest quality swords, cutlery, and long rifles. The Halfarn are a race of small stature, wiry, fun loving people who spend most of their time reading, writing, telling jokes or just having a good time, they generally make excellent spies or scouts. Although there is a dark side to their society; after the Seven Deadly Sins the Halfarn run one of the largest criminal organizations in the galaxy. Probably one of the most annoying races in this spiral arm of the galaxy the Ngorm are inquisitive to the point of insanity and most of them spend their time driving everyone nuts with questions. If you’ve ever had a two year old you’ll know what it’s like to deal with an Ngorm. Not to say that the Ngorm have the mentality of a two year old just their lines of questioning have a bad habit of following the same vein and the word why is the most prevalent in their speech actually have 507 words that mean why. Other than their annoying inquisitiveness the Ngorm are a rather likeable race all and all and can be very loyal, they are also some of the best mechanics and engineers in the galaxy. Not exactly a bunch of geniuses the Orlanc prefer tasks that keep them busy such as farming, herding, or manual labor. They are however a formidable force when it comes to being combat troops. Pretty much a race of warriors they enjoy contact sports as well as other combative pastimes. Large, hairy, and muscular with oft times an odd sense of humor the Yetin act as scientific and spiritual leaders of their own people and the Orlanc. Many humans have compared their mentality to that of Buddha mixed with the humor of some 20th century comedians. Yetins are believed to not be originally from the planet Orla and are oft times considered strange and mysterious although that may stem from the fact that nobody knows much about them. The Tantalan are those who have been infected by the Tantalus Nanno-Virus they appear very similar to the Quislings that were created by the Neo-Prussian Empire during the 7th Pan-Galactic War. Tantalans are part of the Tantalus Hive Mind but if they are somehow cut off from the Hive Mind for more than 24-hours they start having a personality of their own although this is very rare since all Tantalans are connected to the Hive Mind via Quantum Space Flux transceivers. |- |Hair Colors | colspan="2"| None. |- |Eye Colors | colspan="2"| Tantalans have glowing lenses for eyes that are a lighter color of their Nanno-sheath. |- |Natural Attacks | colspan="2"|None. |- |Sexes | colspan="2"|Male & Female |- |Movement Rate | colspan="2"|40 Feet Per Round |- |Average Heights | colspan="2"|6'~ Meters |- |Average Weights | colspan="2"|150 to 200lbs. 67-89kgs. |- |Original Homeworld | colspan="2"| ACW-001 Crèche World 001/Formerly New Bavaria |- |Starting Languages | colspan="2"| Technically none, but via the hive mind they can speak and understand any known language, members of the Hive Mind communicate via QFT. |- |Size Category | colspan="2"|Medium |- |Birth Rate | colspan="2"| It was originally thought that the Tantalans could only expand their race by infecting others with the Tantalus Virus but recently small children sized Tantalans have been observed being tended by a never before seen variant of Tantalan that have a red Nanno-sheath which have been dubbed Breeders since these have also been seen pregnant. |- | rowspan="2"|In Game Bonuses & Restrictions | colspan="2"| Low-Light Vision - The lenses that are part of the cybernetic eyes of the Tantalans gives them low-light vision that allows them to see in most darkness as long as there is some light source. |- | colspan="2"| Damage Deflection - The Tantalan Nanno-Sheath confers Damage Deflection 5 and allows the Tantalans to regenerate 1d4 hit points per round. |- | colspan="2"| Hive Mind - The Tantalans are part of a hive mind, whenever two or more Tantalans are in the same vicinity they do everything at exactly the same time including speaking, they go on the best die roll of all the Tantalans initiative rolls, they gain an accumulative +1 for each Tantalan to +10 when attacking the same target. The only draw back to the Hive mind is that once there is more than one Tantalan in the vicinity any Tantalans that have developed a personality lose it until they are separated from others of their kind for more than twenty-four hours and if they are in the vicinity of a higher ranking Tantalan they do whatever they are ordered to no matter what. |- | colspan="2"| Imperial/Nobility - None. |- | colspan="2"| Technician - Only allowed to take boosts and advantages/disadvantages that make sense for someone technically oriented no combat related skills |- | colspan="2"| Military - Only allowed to take boosts and advantages/disadvantages related to combat and military. |- | colspan="2"| Laborer - Only allowed to take boosts that would relate to this type of job such as lifting/carrying capacity and others boosts are up to the GM. |- | colspan="2"| Breeder - Only allowed to take boost that would make sense for an individual that is used only for breeding purposes. |- | colspan="2"| Drone - Drones can take the same boosts as the laborer but can not go above a rank of five. |- | colspan="2"| All - Once a Tantalan reaches level 5 they can start taking any other boosts but they cost 1.5 times the normal amount of points. |}